Gap between action and barrel on a No1Mk3... wtf?

[louthepou]

Hi folks,

My my, I'm full of questions today.

Here's something I've never seen before, and I wonder what it means.

Recently got a comercial sporter, made by Churchill, based on a No1Mk3*.

Upon close inspection, I see that there's a really narrow gap between the action and the barrel, as seen in these pics:

The headspace is good, the barrel is indexed properly, and face of the barrel breeched up solidly against the internal face of the body. So, what is happening? Or, what happened?

Thanks for any input...

Lou

 

[fat tony]

I have a Lithgow circa 1942 that has the same type of gap, and it's also slightly out of index. I have been told on gunboards that it is a common occurence with these rifles. I have not shot the rifle, so I don't know what effect it would have on accuracy. Incidentally, it was a bubba for a long time, but the metal work was relatively okay. It still needs a bit more work though. Best regards, Tony

I have heard these barrels were torqued on with about 300 lbs of force, probably not worth the effort to try and put a headspacing washer in there. . .

 

[Cdn303]

Looks like the lathe operator got a little carried away.

 

[smellie]

There should be a lead crush washer in there to keep things from moving. I suspect someone has seen it and dug much of it out for esthetic reasons.

Sooner or later, Lou, you will have seen EVERYTHING the old LE can offer you. If you are ever down this way, I can show you an item from my rack. It is a barrel on an SMLE. It has been through two World Wars. The barrel has a SEAM in it, perfectly visible a couple of inches back from the muzzle. Likely it is a left-over from when they rolled the barrel ingots to lengthen them from 8 inches to 25.4 inches during manufacture. It has taken any amount of Service ammunition through it, but it sure LOOKS scary!
.
Lou, interesting that your barrel was installed at Enfield in 1945. According to Reynolds' book, they stopped all work on the SMLE 2 years before that, apart from a few in the experimental shop. I have one here with a 1945 barrel, Suncorite finish, recycled Ross butt and a cast-aluminum fore-end element. They made up a dozen with the Ross butts as an experiment, then did 6 of the composite fore-ends, of which I have only the aluminum portion. Unfortunately, I don't have the wood components for the composite fore-end, so I have only 3/4 of a VERY interesting toy.
.

 

[louthepou]

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

Smellie, would you happen to know what the whole forend looked like? I wonder if someone could carve you the missing wood portion...

Lou